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Last weekend at BlogHer07, I attended one of the AOL Life Lab sponsored lunches. Since I write about money, I picked the session hosted by Mary Hunt, AOL Money Coach and author of Debt-Proof Living. Sitting down at the table, I immediately assumed this was another ill-matched sponsorship that Lisa, Jory and Elisa were forced to accept in an effort to keep the conference fees affordable.
Most bloggers can appreciate the delicate dance between blending content and commerce. So even though this woman standing in front of me writes for Women’s Day with advice that’s more likely to appeal to the “Focus on the Family” set than a queer money blogger, I was willing to give the session a chance. I’m glad that I did.
Hunt has a pretty remarkable story. Here’s an excerpt from Women’s Day:
For years I was a stay-at-home mom. My husband worked hard to provide for our family. But with bills to pay, kids to raise, a home to furnish, cars to drive and places to go, there were months we came up short.
My solution was to use credit cards to build a bridge between our income and the lifestyle I thought we deserved. Trust me, I never met a credit card I didn’t love. I didn’t think I had a spending problem: We just didn’t have enough money. More money was my solution for everything. And, sadly, more was never enough.
When our six-figure credit card debt began to overwhelm us in our 12th year of marriage, I got the wakeup call of my life. My choices: change or lose everything.
It’s then that Hunt had her “come to Jesus” moment with money. The year was 1982 and it took 13 years to pay back the $100,000+ in debt along with all the penalties and interest. In the early nineties, Hunt started writing a monthly newsletter called Debt-Proof Living (formerly Cheapskate Monthly) offering tips about getting beyond debt. She’s written numerous books, is a syndicated columnist and has had her 15-minutes on Oprah and most of the morning shows.
At the luncheon Hunt was promoting her latest book and gave me a review copy of Tiptionary 2: 2300 More Ways to Save Time and Money Every Day. Despite the somewhat youthful cover, many of the tips fall into the category of advice given by your mother or grandmother. I tried to be open minded but I’ll probably never follow most of the tips offered in the Food, Cooking and Kitchen Tricks chapters. Case in point:
Freezing Eggs – When eggs are on sale, stock up. Break the eggs into a freezer-safe container and whisk well to blend. When you need an egg in a recipe use an ice cream scoop to portion out what you need. One scoop = one egg.
Although this tip I liked:
Leftover Sweets – Those last few baked treats that have turned a bit hard don’t need to land in the trash. They’re still perfectly edible, they just need a new purpose. Drop them into a bowl of your food processor and give them a whirl. You’ll end up with perfect crumbs for topping ice cream or other desserts. If you have enough, substitute for the graham cracker crumbs when making the bottom layer or “crust” of a dessert recipe.
Frugality speaks to many people. Typically, I’m just not one of them. I’m a believer about living within one’s means (by tracking expenses) but I’ve always been of the school of thought that it’s easier to figure out ways to make more money than to spend my time and energy on freezing eggs.
Awhile back, Madame X at My Open Wallet wrote a post about up and coming personal finance bestsellers and mentioned Loral Langemeier of The Millionaire Maker:
She thinks entrepreneurship is the way to go and wants people to quit their jobs, start small businesses and buy income-producing rental properties with their savings. She does not focus on cutting expenses or getting out of debt. “Millionaires don’t worry about a latte a day, you know,” she says.
Terry Savage at MSN Money seems to agree:
Certainly, you can affect your personal balance sheet by spending less money dining out or on entertainment. Making a pot of coffee at the office instead of buying a $3 latte will make a slight difference in your cash flow. But the big difference is usually made on the income side of the ledger.”
Stop looking at your budget as a fixed pie that must be cut up into
